Ahearn's late goal lifts Bishop Guertin past Pinkerton for second D1 girls lacrosse title in a row

HOOKSETT - Bishop Guertin High School’s Abigail Ahearn did her best to silence the crowd as she set herself for a free-position opportunity with 24 seconds remaining in regulation of a tied Division I girls lacrosse title game with top-seeded Pinkerton Academy on Thursday night at Penmen Stadium.

On that end of the field, the junior blocked out Cardinals fans enough to focus on her strategy of “faking and placing.” It worked - with Ahearn deking one way and depositing the ball in the net another -  for the game-winner in third-seeded Bishop Guertin’s 12-11 victory over the Astros.

“Goalies jump easily when you throw a fake, especially in a high-pressure moment like that, so you fake it and place it,” said Ahearn, whose Cardinals (19-2) won their fourth championship and back-to-back titles for the first time in program history. “Surprisingly we work on it so much, it felt almost natural.

“Of course it was intimidating with all the fans, but in that moment, you just have to absolutely block everything out. You have to block all the fans out, and just focus on the one job you have.”

Ahearn is certainly a player Bishop Guertin coach Kerry Gobiel was confident would execute in that position.

“Couldn’t picture a better person to be put on the line in a free position,” Gobiel said. “The fastest person.”

Ahearn’s strategy worked on the opposite end of the field as well, silencing the Astros’ student section, which had the “sieve” chant going hard in the direction of Bishop Guertin freshman keeper Makenna Reekie for the majority of second-half action, while the Astros (19-2) were rallying from a 7-4 halftime deficit to take a 10-9 lead with 12:52 to play.

Pinkerton players wouldn’t go quietly, winning the draw following Ahearn’s goal and charging downfield to set up one final opportunity with Pinkerton junior Zoe Howe lining up for a free-position chance with 3.9 seconds on the clock. A Bishop Guertin defender knocked the ball from Howe’s stick, denying one final shot on Reekie (10 saves) and time expired.

“We do a lot of high-pressure stuff in practice. We work on a lot of high-pressure situations,” Gobiel said of her Cardinals. “I push them really hard, I do, and it’s a lot for them. Kudos to them for putting all the extra time and effort in. It shows.”

Bishop Guertin had Pinkerton’s number all season. The Cardinals were the only team to beat the Astros this spring - the first time a 16-12 regular season win all the way back in April.

The Cardinals came out on fire Thursday night, grabbing a 1-0 lead 40 seconds in courtesy of freshman Rylee Bouvier, and then expanding it to 3-0 just four minutes in on Ahearn’s first goal of the night and a tally by sophomore Madison Keating. Pinkerton didn’t record its first goal until 8:57 into the opening half, as senior Kiley Davis broke the ice.

The Astros added first-half goals from Howe and two from fellow junior Lily Auger to keep things within reach as Bishop Guertin worked it’s way to a 7-4 lead at the half, courtesy of two goals from senior Emily Santom, one from senior Claire Donovan and another from sophomore Lindsay Hult.

Auger and the Astros flipped the script in the second half, as she scored twice more in the first eight minutes out of the break to round off her game-high four goals. Other Astros contributing to their second-half surge were juniors Madison Daziel (two) and Lauren Lisauskas, sophomore Abigail Jowett, and Davis. Daziel’s second goal at the 12:08 mark gave the Astros their first lead of the game at 10-9.

Bouvier would score two more in the second half to complete her hat trick, while Keating found twine again to tie things at 10-10 with 5:58 to play.

The Cardinals leading scorer may only be a freshman, but she was relaxed and confident in the spotlight.

“Our coach was really on us about just trying to think of this as another game,” Bouvier said. “I just wanted to leave it all out there for my teammates, especially the seniors.”

Davis’s second-half goal gave Pinkerton an 11-10 lead with 2:50 to play. That’s when Lindsay Hult and Ahearn stepped it up again for BG.

Hult, who assisted on Ahearn’s first-half goal, scored the equalizer with 48 seconds remaining, setting the stage for Ahearn’s heroics.

“I’ve been playing since I was 5,” Ahearn said of her lacrosse career, “and that goal was definitely the highlight.”